Canada November Employment, Earnings and Hours Report (Text)

Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) -- The following is the text of
Canada’s employment, earnings, and hours report for November
released by Statistics Canada.

Average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees were
$911 in November, up 0.5% from the previous month. On a year-over-year basis, earnings increased 3.2%.

The 3.2% increase in earnings during the 12 months to
November reflects a number of factors, including wage growth,
changes in composition of employment by industry, occupation and
level of job experience, as well as average hours worked per
week. In November, non-farm payroll employees worked an average
of 33.2 hours per week, up from 33.1 the month before and 32.9
in November 2011.

Average weekly earnings by sector

Year-over-year growth in average weekly earnings outpaced
the national average in five of the largest industrial sectors:
construction; accommodation and food services; professional,
scientific and technical services; public administration; and
educational services.

Average weekly earnings in construction increased 6.6% in
the 12 months to November to $1,172, with gains spread across
all industries within the sector.

In accommodation and food services, weekly earnings rose
4.6% to $373, led by growth in full-service restaurants and
limited-service eating places.

Weekly earnings in professional scientific and technical
services increased 4.5% to $1,274. The most notable growth
occurred in architectural, engineering and related services;
computer systems design and related services; as well as legal
services.

Average weekly earnings in public administration increased
4.1% in November to $1,167, with gains among all levels of
government.

In educational services, weekly earnings rose 3.9% to $989,
with the largest growth among universities.

Average weekly earnings up in every province

Average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees
increased in every province in the 12 months to November. The
largest growth rates were in Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova
Scotia and Saskatchewan.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, average weekly earnings
increased 5.4% from 12 months earlier to $941, the highest year-over-year growth rate among the provinces. The growth in
earnings was most notable in construction; manufacturing; and
administrative and support services. Average weekly earnings in
Newfoundland and Labrador were the second highest in the country
after Alberta.

Average weekly earnings in Nova Scotia were $817 in
November, up 4.6% from November 2011. Despite a year-over-year
growth rate above the national average since August, earnings in
this province continue to be among the lowest in the country.

In Saskatchewan, average weekly earnings rose 3.7% in the
12 months to November to $931. The main contributors to this
increase were accommodation and food services; mining, quarrying
and oil and gas extraction as well as finance and insurance.

Earnings were still highest in Alberta at $1,086, a 3.4%
increase from November 2011.

Non-farm payroll employment by sector

Total non-farm payroll employment edged up 3,100 in
November, following a decline of 14,800 the previous month.

In November, the number of payroll employees increased in
administrative and support services; public administration; and
mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction. At the same time,
there were small declines in real estate and rental and leasing
as well as professional, scientific and technical services.

On a year-over-year basis, payroll employment rose by
228,400 (+1.5%).

Among all sectors, mining, quarrying, and oil and gas
extraction continued to post the highest 12-month growth rate in
payroll employment at 8.3%. Growth was also strong in
construction (+4.6%) as well as transportation and warehousing
(+3.3%). The most notable declines were in forestry, logging and
support services (-6.5%) and utilities (-3.2%).

Note to readers

The Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours (SEPH) is a
business census of non-farm payroll employees. Its key objective
is to provide a monthly portrait of the level of earnings, the
number of jobs and hours worked by detailed industry at the
national, provincial and territorial level.

Estimates of average weekly earnings and hours are based on
a sample and are therefore subject to sampling variability.
Payroll employment estimates are based on a census of
administrative data and are not subject to sampling variability.

Statistics Canada also produces employment estimates from
its monthly Labour Force Survey (LFS). The LFS is a household
survey, the main objective of which is to divide the working-age
population into three mutually exclusive groups: the employed
(including the self-employed), unemployed and not in the labour
force. This survey is the official source for the unemployment
rate and collects data on the socio-demographic characteristics
of all those in the labour market.

As a result of conceptual and methodological differences,
estimates of changes from SEPH and LFS do differ from time to
time. However, the trends in the data are quite similar.

Non-farm payroll employment data are for all hourly and
salaried employees, as well as the “other employees” category,
which includes piece-rate and commission-only employees.

Average weekly hours data are for hourly and salaried
employees only and exclude businesses that could not be
classified to a North American Industry Classification System
(NAICS) code.

All earnings data include overtime pay and exclude
businesses that could not be classified to a NAICS code.
Earnings data are based on gross taxable payroll before source
deductions.

Average weekly earnings are derived by dividing total
weekly earnings by the number of employees.

With each release, data for the current reference month are
subject to revision. Data have been revised for the previous
month. Users are encouraged to request and use the most up-to-date data for each month.

Revisions

With the March 27 release of January data, SEPH will start
using the 2012 North American Industry Classification System
(NAICS) instead of NAICS 2007. Data will be revised historically
back to 2001. At the same time, seasonally adjusted data will be
revised based on the latest seasonal factors. Historical
revisions will also be made to a small number of industries by
province or territory. These changes will have little impact on
SEPH estimates.